Chillin' in Limbo
by IluthraDanar
Summary: Two brothers who haven't seen eye to eye in years, find themselves locked up together. They work to get free so that they can help the Winchester brothers fight an ancient evil. Character study, part one of two. Please comment if you like it.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Supernatural.**

**Chillin' in Limbo**

**Two brothers reluctantly spend some time together.**

Gabriel, in an attempt to accept his lot in the afterlife, was getting a massage from twin blondes in bikinis. A smiling brunette was holding a candy dish filled with a variety of tasty chocolate treats, which the angel was eating piece by delicious piece.

An alarm went off somewhere, sending Gabriel into a sitting position. "Ok, girls, go away. Don't come back unless I call you." Before the brunette could leave, Gabriel grabbed the candy dish from her manicured hands. "You can leave that here, doll." Rising from the massage table, Gabriel snapped his fingers, enclosing his not-so-tall body in jeans and a button up shirt.

The door to the large colorful room opened, and in walked a very pissed angel.

"Hey, bro! When did you get in?" asked a welcoming Archangel.

The grim-faced angel scanned the badly decorated accommodations, and frowned even more. "I didn't just 'get in', Gabriel. My vessel was destroyed. Why does this place look like 1970s regurgitate?"

"There you go again, mocking my taste in the finer things," Gabriel huffed.

"You have no taste, brother." Castiel looked down his nose at how low they had fallen.

"And you look like an encyclopedia salesman," Gabriel tossed back.

"I...I lost the trench coat," Castiel looked down at the white shirt and tie, and boring dark slacks. "So where the hell..."

"Not Hell, brother. Limbo. We're in Limbo." Gabriel scarfed a couple of pieces of candy.

Angels couldn't be killed, not completely. If the vessel of an angel was killed by a weapon created just for the task, it could not be resurrected. And a new one could not be secured. So for an angel, it was akin to death. They were sent to Limbo until they were released by their Father. That meant God had to let them go free. And for the moment, He was no where to be found.

Castiel would refuse to take his new situation lying down. "I have to get back. Dean and Sam need my help."

"Help, for what?" Gabriel asked, not really caring. His days on Earth were done. "So who killed your vessel? A Demon? An Angel? The...Winchesters?" He gave Castiel a knowing smile, not thinking that he, in fact, knew nothing.

Castiel remained grim faced. "It was the Leviathans."

Gabriel swallowed hard, choking on a piece of chocolate. "Levia...Leviathans? Seriously."

Castiel only nodded silently. Moving to stand before his brother angel, Cas stared him in the eyes. "I need to get back, Gabriel. Now."

"There's nothing you can do, bro. You're stuck here, for the time being anyway. It's not exactly the worst place you can be, you know. You can have anything you want, so why not sit back and enjoy." Gabriel held out the candy dish. "Chocolate?"

Castiel became angry. "How can I enjoy anything, Gabriel, when Dean and Sam are about to go up against the most powerful of all God's creations!"

The Leviathans had been created before angels, and were even more powerful. But they developed an unstoppable hunger that God himself could not control. So he locked them up in Purgatory for what should have been forever. Then they had been freed by Castiel's poor planning and very human-like arrogance. In risking everything, Castiel had lost everything. Still, he was determined to get back to Earth. He had guided his trench coat to the spot where Dean, Sam and Bobby had followed him to the lake. He had hoped they would see it as the sign he had intended it to be. _I'll make it back._

Gabriel was watching his brother closely. He could understand the angel's feelings. He, himself, had offered his aide to the Winchesters. Dean had accused him of being unable to stand up to his family. It had taken him awhile to find his balls, but when he did, Gabriel had realized that Dean was right. He had also discovered that humans were wonderful creatures. Not perfect, to be sure, but they had a few qualities he liked. When **his** family fought, the skies darkened, and the Earth quaked. When the Winchesters and their friends fought, the end result would be much apologizing, with a few hugs thrown in for fun. Gabriel had pleaded with Lucifer to let go of all of his frustration, and rejoin the family. In answer, Gabriel had received a sacred knife in his gut.

Flopping on the velvet sofa, the Archangel snapped his fingers, and the two blondes reappeared. "Come on, Cas, join the party." He leaned over and kissed the blonde on his left. Then he leaned in the other direction and kissed the blonde on his right.

Castiel frowned. Dean had tried to introduce him to the pleasures of the flesh, but he just couldn't let himself relax. Angels had, in the past, mated with human females, but no good ever came of it. While Cas had made a few mistakes in his existence, that would not be one.

"Cas, would you sit down please. You're making me nervous." Gabriel tried to ignore his anxious brother, in favour of the roaming hands of the twins. They may have been constructs of his imagination, but they still provided a great deal of pleasure.

Cas reached down and touched each twin. In a micro-second, they vanished.

"Hey, dude, I wasn't done with them yet!" Gabriel pouted, popping another chocolate into his mouth.

Cas sat next to the fussing Gabe, and asked, "How do we leave? You've been here longer..."

"Yeah, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm still here." He waved his hands around, and gave Cas a tight-lipped stare. "At least I'm** trying** to make the best of things. We just have to wait until Dad gets home, so he can pull us from this place."

Cas had no doubt their Father was around somewhere, but he hadn't been successful in his search for him, nor had any of the other angels. "Gabriel, I don't believe for one moment that you'd be happy here, waiting for Father to rescue you. I know you've changed your way of regarding humans. What was it Lucifer said you spouted that made him so angry? 'I'm loyal, to them'. Wasn't that what you said? You, an Archangel, said that people were better than us. You can imagine my shock when I heard that report, those words coming from your mouth. Lucifer couldn't believe it either. But when I heard he had killed your vessel, I mourned for you, brother. I wept tears."

Gabriel lowered his head. He had made that statement to Lucifer, and it had gotten his vessel killed. But he wouldn't have changed anything. He cared about humans, and it all started with Dean and Sam Winchester. In their arrogance and blind courage, they taught him something about forgiveness and love. He had sworn his allegiance to the human race in the face of Lucifer's wrath. '...I'm not on your side or Michael's. I'm on theirs.' Looking over at Cas, his eyes glistening with moisture, he said, "I'm sorry. I should have been in the game from the beginning. I just wanted it to end. For all the fighting to stop."

"Well, it has, for us. Now the world has to deal with the Leviathans. We need to help, Gabriel. You know what they're capable of," Cas reminded his brother.

A shiver went through his fascimile body. Yes, he knew what the Leviathans were known for. And it wasn't pretty. But what could two brave humans and two powerless angels hope to accomplish against an army of those vile beasts. "This is insane, you know that, Cas."

Cas tilted his head as he pursed his lips. "I know, Gabriel, but what choice do we have?"

"We're safe now," Gabe promised.

"Humans wouldn't be," Cas pointed out.

"We have no powers," Gabe reminded.

"Neither do the Winchesters," Cas countered.

You're ticking me off here," Gabe griped.

"You already accomplished that for me," Cas glared.

The two brothers stared at one another for 3 months Earth time, but for them, it was only a minute or two. Finally, Cas stepped forward, and held out his hand.

Gabriel looked down at the extended hand. He had never wanted to fight any of his brothers. He loved them all, even Lucifer. It had pained him to lose so many. Yet Castiel was still here. Cas, the one who had defied the ruling order, and had sided with the humans first. He stepped forward, and took his brother's hand. They both pulled each other into a silent embrace.

Eventually, they pulled apart.

"I love you, my brother," Cas said warmly.

"Don't get mushy on me, man." Gabriel smiled as he continued to clasp Cas's hand. "So, what do we do now?"

"We get out of here, and go find Dean and Sam."

**A/N: this will be a two parter story. I don't want to get into an extended fight between the good guys and the bad guys. This is more a character study of two angels who have been through hell, and who find their brotherly alliance once more. Let me know if you like it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Supernatural.**

**Chillin' in Limbo**

**Chapter 2**

**Complete**

Cas paced the floor of the gilded prison he'd found himself consigned to. "So, what do you know about this place, Gabriel?"

"What do **I** know, Cas? It's Limbo! I didn't invent the it." Gabe realized he hadn't stopped eating from the bowl of chocolates since Cas arrived. He swallowed thickly as he looked at the bowl and set it down, mumbling to himself. "Ugh, too much of a good thing..."

"There's a way in, so there has to be a way out." The fingers of one hand massaged his slightly scruffy chin as Cas continued pacing.

"Yeah, well, I haven't found it yet. Why do you want to leave anyway, bro? Wine, women...chocolate," Gabe said, making a face. "What more could you want? Now, would you please sit down? You're making me dizzy."

"None of this is real, you know," Cas said, waving his hands in the air at the room. "You made it all up. I don't know about you, Gabriel, but I'd rather be out there saving the world."

"No, the Winchesters get to save the world. It's their job!" Lying down, he braced his feet on the wall as he let his head dangle over the edge of the sofa. Looking up at Cas, who was now upside down, Gabe snapped his fingers, and a Tootsi-Roll Pop appeared in his mouth. He tried not to bite on it. "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsi-Pop?"

His hands on his hips, Cas peered down at the once mature but now irresponsible archangel. "I thought you had changed, Brother. Didn't you give up your Earthly life to save Dean and Sam?"

"I thought I was killing Lucifer, Castiel. I had no idea he was one up on me. Stupidest thing I ever did was walking into that hotel."

"At least you tried."

"Right, man, I tried. All I tried to do was kill...my...own...brother. Do you think that was an easy decision?"

"None of this has been easy, Gabriel. The lying, the back-stabbing, the treasonous conspiracies. This was not what our Father created us for. And some of us fell into the temptations quite easily.

"There were some temptations worth the risk, and that was the best thing about all this, Cas."

"So unworthy of an archangel," Cas said, shaking his head.

Turning his body so that he could sit up, Gabe spit back, "Hey, I stepped up to the plate! After laying low for so long, I willingly exposed myself. I confronted the Winchesters, and I told them what they needed to do. But did they listen to me? Noooo...they argued with me."

"That's what they're best at. But they have a habit of getting inside you, and making you change in a way you wouldn't expect."

"Et tu, Cas?" Gabe leaned back against the sofa, running both hands through his hair. "I don't blame them. How can I? I did everything I could to make them see their destiny. It was torture for them, of course, but I loved it. Still, something happened when I saw the affect my games had on them. It wasn't what I expected. I began to remember the importance...of family. I had forgotten that, having been in hiding for so long. I knew what I had to do." Gabe looked up at Cas, pain in his eyes. "I didn't want to kill Lucifer. I tried to get him to see how wrong he was. Guess I didn't get through to him, since in return, he shanked me a nice hole."

Cas sat on the sofa next to his brother. "Gabriel, Lucifer has been the proud one from day one. He would never listen to Father, and he never listened to us."

"It wasn't just that, Cas. I watched those two human mudworms, and how they loved each other." He made a face as he said the last 3 words. "I experienced an emotion I'd never felt before. I actually envied them. They literally went through hell and back, and were still able to maintain their loyalty to each other." Jumping up off the sofa, Gabe walked across the room, then whirled toward Cas. "We were Dad's perfect creations! Why couldn't we be that way?"

"We never saw Father, Gabriel. Maybe, if he had been there for all of us..." Cas reminded his agitated brother.

"It doesn't change the fact that many of us were jealous of Dad's regard for His new creations. Only Lucifer said anything, and he suffered for it."

"Do you sympathise with him, Gabriel? I can't believe..." Cas was seeing a completely different archangel emerge.

"Maybe at first. But later, all I wanted was for the fighting to stop. When that didn't happen, I decided to light out, flee the scene, exit stage left. It was cowardly of me."

"So Dean and Sam..." Cas started to ask a question, but was interrupted by Gabe.

"...got me to see the error of my thinking. I found out they were going to be at the Elysian Fields Hotel, so I joined them, once I discovered what was in store for them. I guess I didn't do the best job of protecting the guys."

Cas stood, and faced his older brother. "You did, Gabriel. Because of you, Dean and Sam were able to escape Lucifer."

"So I did ok?" Gabe asked, looking for belated approbation from the brother he admired most.

"You did," Cas answered, giving Gabe a smile of approval.

Feeling a warmth inside, Gabe wiped his hands of imaginary dust, then clapped them together. "Ok, then, so what do we do now?"

Nodding at finally hearing his brother realizing the importance of leaving this place, Cas looked around the suite. Pointing at the door, he mused, "I came in that way, but I don't remember how I got there."

"It's the death process, brother. I know a lot about that, you know."

"Not from personal experience, I hear," Cas said, aware of Dean's unfortunate "Groundhog Day" experience with Gabriel. "I say we leave here now. See where we get led."

"Led. You say that like someone is making sure we don't leave...or we do." Gabriel spent so much time hanging out, eating goodies, and making love with the imagined beauties, that he didn't bother to try to leave.

"Since I've never been dead before, I don't really know what we'll find. But I do know if we don't leave this room, we'll never get out. I don't plan on waiting for Father to come." Cas opened the door, and looked back at Gabriel before stepping out into the hall. He turned right, then left. The hall went on and on, for what looked like a mile in both directions. Their door was the only one, however. "Coming?" he asked his older brother.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

They had been walking down the hall for what seemed like a hundred years. Maybe they had been. But they didn't hear or see anything the entire way.

"This is ridiculous, Cas. How long does this hallway go?"

Cas merely turned to look at Gabe, his mouth tightening in his frustration, but that was as much as he showed it.

They continued walking on for another month or so, when Gabe stopped and leaned against the wall. "I am not going another step." Whirling around, he shouted at the ceiling. "I want the hell out of here!"

Just then, a door appeared at a newly-created end of the hall.

"Well, will you look at that. Ask and ye shall receive. Coming, bro?"

Cas shrugged and followed Gabe to the door. "Try it," he told his older brother.

Gabriel reached out tentatively, wondering if this was some kind of trap. His hand encricled the doorknob, and he turned it. It was unlocked, so he opened it. Looking out, both angels found themselves in a green field. Inhaling deeply, Gabe remarked, "Now that is not city smell."

"No," Cas responded. "It's almost as fresh as heavenly aire. Look over there." He pointed at a complex of white-washed buildings surrounded by similarly white-washed walls. "Let's go."

Both angels walked across the field, marveling at how clean and fresh everything was.

"Limbo. The place reserved for the best of Dad's unworthy souls," Gabe noted.

"And angels,"Cas pointed out.

"How is it we didn't get to go there? Nooo, we were stuck in some second rate hotel." Gabe wished he'd brought some of his candy, after searching his pockets and finding none.

Referring to the addition of human-like temptations, Cas said, "I didn't notice you suffering too much, brother." He shook his head when no retort came flying back at him.

As they approached the gates to the complex, Gabe hit a barrier. "Hey, what the...?" he cried out.

"Angels and mortals can't mingle in the afterlife," Cas observed, not surprised that they were barred from the afterlife city.

"Right, of course," Gabe said sarcastically. "On Earth, yes, yet here, no way. How prejudiced can you get," he muttered.

"You'll have to take the long road home," a voice said behind them.

Turning to the voice, Cas and Gabe saw a beautiful woman. Gabe instantly smiled, adding swagger to his stance. Cas stepped in front of his brother, cutting him off from the woman.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"There," she pointed. The angels walked to where she was pointing, and looked down over a cliff into a cloud bank. Neither could see any bottom that might lay beneath the cloud cover.

"You want us to jump?" Gabe exclaimed. "Cas, doesn't down lead to...?"

Being practical, Cas demanded more information. "Why do we have to jump off here? Isn't that the way to Hell?"

"The only way up...is down," she said, smiling, before she left them, heading over to the walled city. "Leap of faith, gentlemen, leap of faith" she yelled over her shoulder, as she left the dumbfounded pair to their choice.

Cas and Gabe looked over the cliff edge, trying to see what was down there.

"Leap of faith, brother," Cas said, before he jumped off the cliff.

"Oh, Lord," Gabe mumbled under his breath, as he too jumped.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Somewhere around the corner, trash cans were being upended noisely. Two men went flying around the corner. When Dean and Sam looked toward the sounds, their faces expressed the disbelief they felt. There, lying in the street in a tangle of flesh and aluminum, was one figure they had seen die only a few months ago, and another, who had died much earlier. The Winchester brothers never expected to see either again. Yet here they were.

Rising from the hard blacktop, both angels looked at one another, then around them.

"We made it," Cas said, breaking out into a joyously spontaneous grin for the first time in a very long time. Seeing the Winchesters in the near distance, he started in their direction, sensing Gabe right behind him.

Dean walked up slowly to his supposedly dead friend. He reached out with a hand to touch the figure in front of him. "You are real, right? I mean, it really is you, Cas."

"Yeah, Dean, it's me."

Sam moved to join the trio. Looking at Gabriel, and then at Castiel, he said, "You're both alive. We never thought we'd see either of you."

Gabe, trying to appear nonchalant, spoke in agreement. "Same here, dude. It's been, like, forever."

Without a word, Dean went to the car, and opened the trunk. He pulled out a package and went over to Cas, handing it to him. "I think this is yours, man. I had it...uh...dry cleaned for you.

Cas unwrapped the package, seeing the coat that had become so much a part of his human guise. He took the coat almost reverantly, then put it on. "Thank you, Dean. Still fits," he said, smiling. "So how long has it been?"

"You've been...um... dead for four or five months, Cas," Sam answered.

Feeling left out, Gabe uttered, "Hello! I've been dead just a while longer, guys. No gushing, if you don't mind."

Dean looked at an indignant archangel Gabriel, "You know, I'm even happy to see you, you pathetic..."

"Hey, let's not get personal, boys!" Gabe snapped his fingers, and Tootsi-Pops appeared in Dean and Sam's mouths. "Now, if either of you makes it to the center without biting, let me know how many licks it took. For some reason, I can't manage it."

Looking a bit disgusted, Dean pulled the sucker from his mouth and tossed it to the ground. "I prefer grape."

Cas also became disgusted that Gabriel would indulge in his usual shenanigans the minute they get back to Earth. "Brother, there is a more important issue at hand. Finding the Leviathan and destroying them, before they take over the planet. You and I are the only angels willing to help."

"Or that are still alive?" All eyes turned to the archangel. "Ok, that we know of. That'll be something Cas and I will have to check into. For now..."

Interrupting Gabe, Cas stepped within inches of him, saying, "For now, we go with Dean and Sam, and start investigating where we need to be and what we need to do." Placing a hand on the back of Gabe's neck, Cas squeezed hard in warning. "Isn't that right, brother."

"Yeah, yeah, no worries. Geez." Pulling away from Cas' grip, Gabe wandered next to a walking Sam. "So, you miss me?"

Sam looked at Gabe and rolled his eyes, as he shook his head in disbelief. Then he smiled, remembering, not the pranks played on them by the Trickster, but the sacrifice made by the archangel Gabriel. "Yeah, man, we missed you."

Dean watched his kid brother walking in front of him with Gabriel tagging along like an annoying puppy. "So, what was it like, Cas?"

"Dying? It's not the same thing as it is for humans. We ended up in Limbo, in a place for angels that lose their vessels permanently. It wasn't any place I care to be. I prefer being here, helping you, Dean."

Dean stopped, hanging his head down a moment, before looked at Cas. He smiled. "Look, um, there are only a few people I'm really close to, Cas, people I care about enough to die for. Sam...Bobby...Lisa and Ben...and you. When you died, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tear something part, like maybe one of those Leviathan things, if I could have gotten my hands on one." He exhaled. "I'm just glad you're back, man."

"Thanks, Dean. There aren't many humans I would sacrifice my immortality for." Both men said no more as they caught up with Sam and Gabriel.

Without looking at Dean, Cas whispered, "And thanks for taking care of the coat."

**A/N: I love this show, and miss my two fave angels. But I get to see the actors in person next March. So excited! Thanks for reading this small story, my way to give life back to Cas and Gabe.**


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